Saying Goodbye
by Sailor Memory
Summary: Life is filled with pain. But with pain comes hope for the future. Here are some painful experences that could have happened throughout Rini's life, but always end with hope.


Hello, I'm Lochley04. This fanfic is based on what could have happened throughout Rini's life. PLEASE E-MAIL ME! IN THE NAME OF THE MOON, I BEG YOU! My address is ww4475@dragonbbs.com.  
Standard disclaimers apply for Sailor Moon and company, as well as the song this story is based upon!   
Arigato,  
KMW  
  
Thirty Five Years ago  
  
It was one of the saddest days of my life. It was the day my parents were coming from Crystal Tokyo to take me home. A part of myself didn't want to go. For the past three years, I had been living in the 20th century, one thousand years in the past, training to be a Sailor Scout under the tutelage of my mother's past self, Sailor Moon.  
  
At noon, Serena, Darien, Mina, Lita, Amy, Raye, Corrin, Nerissa, Hotaru, and myself arrived at the dock on Serenity Pond. After a few minutes of standing there, a door with many inscriptions upon it appeared and opened, revealing a woman with a white dress and gold trim, and a man  
with a lavender tuxedo.  
  
I turned to the group that had been my family for the past three years. As I hugged the Outer Senshi (Corrin, Nerissa, and Hotaru), tears were gathering in my eyes. When I hugged the Inner Senshi (Mina, Raye, Amy, and Lita), I was bawling. Finally, I stood before my parents past selves, crying. First, I dashed into Darien's arms, whispering, "I'll never forget you. That's  
a promise."  
  
Tears were starting to form in his eyes as well, and he responded, "I will never for get you either, my little rabbit head."  
  
Nodding, I turned to the one who had done so much for me. As we'd done one time so long ago, we just stood staring at each other for a moment. Then, without warning, we flew into each other's arms.  
  
I desperately whispered hoarsely, "Why can't I stay?"  
Serena looked down at me with a small smile, saying softly,  
  
"Time will ease your pain. Life's about change and nothing ever stays the same. How can I help you to say goodbye? Its ok to hurt and its ok to cry. Come let me hold you and I will try."  
  
For about two minutes, we clung to each other until Serena let go, turned me towards the door, gave me a little push, and said, "Go on. We'll see each other again, I  
promise. Go on and don't look back."  
  
With the tears still streaming down my face, I slowly made my way to the door and to my parent's arms, never looking back once.  
  
Fifteen years later  
  
Helios pulled out his suitcase and started to put in his belongings. I watched him from the doorway, crying silently. After a minute of shoving clothes and pictures into it, he closed it and turned to me with the look I hadn't seen since that day I'd left the 20th century. It was look of loss, sadness, and grief.  
  
Quietly he said to me, "I shall miss you and little Katie."  
  
When I said nothing, he continued, "My maiden, you understand why I have to go, don't you? I can't bear to stay so far away form my homeland, Elysian, anymore. Can't you understand that?"  
  
Softly, so softly that he almost couldn't here me, I replied, "Yes, my Pegasus, I can understand that," I paused and continued with a louder voice, "I went through it when I had to leave the 20th century. Those people had been my family for more than three years. I never recovered from  
losing them, even though they were with me in Crystal Tokyo, just older. My life has never  
been the same since that day. Now it's happening again, I'm losing the person that  
I love."  
  
Helios took my hand and led me to our bed and sat me down. Never letting me go, he said to me, "Rini, I swear upon all the honor that I hold, you will never lose me. I just miss Elysian so much. I was born and raised there. I promise you that I will come and visit you and  
Katie often."  
  
I threw my arms around him and clung to him in the very same way that I'd done to Serena over fifteen years before. We sat there for a few minutes until Helios gently pulled away, took his bag, kissed me on my crescent moon and left the room. I watched him go, not moving  
for several seconds.  
  
Finally I got up, activated the view screen, and contacted my mother. When I'd assumed the throne three years ago, Queen Serenity, King Darien, and the original Sailor Scouts had retreated  
to a small palace in the Rocky Mountains in America. They said that they wanted  
to experience something new.  
  
When Serenity's face appeared on the screen, I burst into tears.  
  
With a concerned look, Serenity asked, "Small Lady, what's wrong?"  
  
"Mama, Helios left. He's going back to Elysian to stay. Oh Mama what do I do," I asked, wishing she could hold me in her arms, like she used to when I was little.  
  
I also noticed for the first time, that Mama had gray streaks in her hair. Where'd those come from?  
  
"Time will ease your pain. Life's about change  
and nothing ever stays the same. How can I help you to say goodbye? Its ok to hurt and its ok to cry. Come let me hold you and I will try."  
  
I smiled at those words. They'd always had a remarkable affect on me. We talked for a few minutes before we said goodbye.  
  
I returned to our bed and held a picture of our wedding day. Next to where it had sat, was the picture of Helios, Katie, and myself. Papa had taken that picture the day his first grandchild had been born.  
  
Yes, Mama was right. My family would always be together in our hearts.  
  
Twenty years later  
  
This was definitely the worst day of my life. It had even the surpassed the day I'd left the 20th century. Mama, my dearest Mama was dying. Most of that original group was gone already. The first to go was Lita, then dear sweet Hotaru, then Amy, and then Corrin. The last one to die was ten years ago, when Papa had died. When he'd left, Mama had never been the same.  
  
So, there we stood. Raye and myself each held one of her hands, with Nerissa, Celia, and Mina standing behind her, crying silently. Behind me stood Helios, Katie, her husband, Thomas, and in Katie's arms was their two-year-old son, Michael. Right now, we knew that Katie was going to have a daughter in about seven months. Both Thomas and Katie had decided to name the girl Serena, in memory of her great-grandmother, the first Neo-Queen Serenity.  
  
For the past three hours, my eyes hadn't left my mother's face. I noticed every twitch. So I most certainly noticed when her eyes slowly opened.  
  
With a voice that could barely be recognized as hers, she whispered,  
"Guys, it's about time."  
  
Nearly shouting, I said, "Mama, why do you have to leave me?!"  
  
Smiling gently, she replied, "Small Lady, we all die sometime. I've lived for over two thousand years and they were mostly wonderful years. I lived in the Silver Millennium with a wonderful mother and dear friends. In the 20th century, I became Sailor Moon and lived a life of fighting evil. Then the 30th century came, and your father and I lived a peaceful existence here and in the Rocky Mountains. So frankly, I'm tired of living. I'm tired of trying to be the perfect mother, the perfect mother-in-law, the perfect grandmother, the perfect great-grandmother, and the perfect best friend. I'm sick of missing my Darien, my friends, and my... mother."  
  
Needless to say, we were all surprised. Mama hadn't mentioned her mother ever since the one time when I was five years old. Still, we knew that she missed her terribly.  
  
Mama continued, "I have to go now, my time here is over," and with her final words, she tried to help us understand. Mama whispered softly, "Time will ease you pain. Life's about change and nothing ever stays the same. How can I help you to say goodbye? It's okay to hurt and its okay  
to cry. Come let me hold you and I will try. How can I help you to say... goodbye..."  
  
Raye and I managed to crawl up beside her when a bright light came from the door. We looked at it and saw a group of people were standing at the door. It was Corrin, Amy, Lita, Hotaru, Papa,  
and someone who looked just like Mama. Suddenly it clicked in my mind about whom she was.  
  
I gasped, "Grandmother."  
  
The smile she gave us radiated love and kindness. She turned to her daughter and said, "Serena, it's time for you to join us at the Gate."  
  
In front of us, Mama appeared, young and beautiful again. Slowly she made her way to join her mother, husband, and friends. She turned to us and said, "Don't worry. We will wait for you, my  
friends, my family. We will wait for you..."  
  
Crying softly, I sobbed, "Goodbye Mama, Papa, Grandmother, my friends. I'll never forget you. Never."  
  
They smiled at us. We watched them until they couldn't be seen anymore. And I never, ever forgot the look of elation on my mother's face. I knew that she was almost fully happy, now reunited with her mother, the man she'd always loved, and her friends. Now she only had to wait  
for the rest of her friends and me. I knew that we'd be together again, I just knew.  
  
Somewhere out there, a soul was at piece once again.  
  
The Present Time- ten years after Neo-Queen Serenity's death  
  
"... Neo-Queen Serenity I was the last of the full-blooded of the House of Serenity. There will never be another. She changed the future and she changed us. She taught us that we have to create the future, or others will create it for us. She taught us that we have to care  
for one another, because if we don't, then compassion will cease. And that strength comes from the most unexpected places."  
  
There was a loud applause. Smiling, I stepped down from the podium. Waiting for me was Helios, Katie, Thomas, Raye, twelve-year-old Michael, and ten-year-old Serena. Dear sweet Serena. She never knew why I had taken such an interest in her, but she would know someday, after I was gone.  
  
"Grandmama, you were wonderful," Serena spoke with the childlike  
innocence that was endearing. We all cherished it, for we knew that it wouldn't last forever. At times I'd wondered if Serena was the reincarnation of my mother. I guess we'll never know.  
  
"Thank you, Serena. My mother certainly deserved it."  
  
Speaking quietly with a slight tremble, Raye added, "She sure did."  
  
Raye. The last of the original group who'd created Crystal Tokyo. After Mama had died, Nerissa had died just four months later, Mina following her six years later. Mina's big heart just  
wouldn't let her die until she'd made sure that Serenity's namesake had entered the world. Celia, of course, hadn't aged a bit, having returned to the Gate of Time after Mama had died. We knew that it had devastated her, since Mama was the only reason she'd left her post so often and now she was gone forever. Still, I knew that if they were watching us, they were smiling at how things had turned out.  
  
That night, after I'd tucked Serena into bed, she asked me, "Grandmama, will you tell me the great story of Sailor Moon and the Sailor Scouts?"  
  
Hesitantly I said, "Maybe you should ask Raye about that. After all, I was only there a part of the time."   
  
She gave me that pitiful look and of course I immediately relented. Carefully, I sat down on her bed and I began the great story.  
  
"Two thousand years ago,  
our Moon was home to a great  
civilization ruled by Queen Serenity.  
Everything was peaceful until the arrival  
of the evil Queen Beryl. To conquer  
the Moon, Queen Beryl unleashed the  
awesome power of the Negaforce.  
  
  
Although her world was destroyed,  
Queen Serenity's last hope was the power  
of the Silver Imperium Crystal and the  
Crescent Moon Wand.  
  
Frozen in Moonbeam crystals, the Queen  
sent the Princess and the Children of  
The Moon to the Future on Earth.  
Their memories lost to them all,  
the Queen's cat advisors, Luna  
and Artemis, must find the Princess  
so she will at last be safe.  
  
And so our story begins...  
  
  
  
  
  
Epilogue  
  
Raye died three years after Rini had given her speech about her mother. With the last link to her mother gone, Rini entered seclusion for the rest of her  
life, seeing only her family.   
  
Three years later, Rini died quietly in her sleep, but she lived long enough to finish the great story of her beloved mother, father, and their friends. For the rest of Serena's life, she was not only a princess or queen, but a historian as well, always telling her people the great story of Sailor Moon and the Sailor Scouts, and having them tell it to their children, generation after generation. It was a final tribute to her ancestors.  
  



End file.
